Early Morning Discussions
by joness13
Summary: One-Shot.Sequel to 'Late Night Chat' should read first, but not necessary. Harry has always gotten out of tight spots, how will he make it out of this one? Sorry about the pun! Rated to be Safe.Read&Review.


AN: I got kind of inspired to write this because 1. Hogwarts-hero asked me to (kinda:D) 2. "Secret Life of the American Teenager" and 3. My chemistry teacher's wife just had her baby kind if the same way Harry is born in my story. Also, in case anyone does not know, I do live in America and I'm not sure how a doctor would say a baby weighed, so I am just keeping it at pounds and ounces, if you don't know how much that is think of a vase (most are around 3 pounds). I thought there was something else that I didn't change from American to British but I can't remember, so if you notice anything else thats why. Anyways, if there are any mistakes you see, please let me know. Don't forget to Review :)

Early Morning Discussions

Turning to her side Lily sighed, this was the worst part of having a baby. The waiting; September 4th just couldn't seem to come fast enough. Bringing her knees up as close as she could to her chest, it being only 1:45 in the morning, she could hear James sleeping soundly while she suffered through false labor. It did make her giggle though, remembering the first time she told him about Braxton Hicks.

-One Month Prior-

"Ow!" Lily said grabbing her belly. James looked up from the _Prophet _with a look of 'now?!' on his face. Lily took a deep breath, shook her head and growled out 'Braxton Hicks.' James looked a bit uncomfortable. H e knew pregnant women could be irrational and he did not feel like sleeping on the couch tonight.

But, mustering up his courage he did what so many people had told him not to, and opened his mouth. "Uhm, Lily?" he asked hesitantly, James Potter was never hesitant. Still, all Lily did was raise her eyebrows in acknowledgement. "Well, Im just going to come out and say it."

Lily blinked, "Go on then." She said wondering what it could be.

James pushed a hand through his hair, (something he now only did when he was nervous) "Braxton!?!" he all but yelled at her.

"What?" she said with a tiny giggle.

"Braxton Hicks? I though we weren't going to name him until we saw him?" James said with a look of utmost hurt on his face. Lily couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. James looked just like a little kid getting ready cry because he lost his puppy. Only a few ever got to see him like this, Lily and his mother.

"Im sorry, I didn't mean to laugh," she said as another giggle erupted from her mouth.

"Lily! Hicks? Hicks is not even a name!" Why was she laughing at him? This was their child's name, and she was laughing at him? No one laughs at James Potter!

"Ja-James," she said in between laughs "Im sorry, that's not his name."

His head shot up again, "It's not?" he said with so much hope alight in his face.

"No," she said putting her hands around his neck "It's what they call false labor."

"F-false labor?" his voice an octave higher than normal, Lily nodded. "Oh, well...Im just...gonna...uhm, go." He said while nodding ands walking away.

***

Sighing again Lily sat up as best she could and started on her way to go make some tea. Thinking once she got into the kitchen that maybe this was it, maybe she might actually have him. So caught up in thinking about whether she may have the baby, she was surprised to feel arms wrap around her she turned around to see her husbands sleepy face.

"What are you doing up?" she asked his as he nuzzled his face into her soft hair.

"I felt you leave." She smiled; he could be so sweet, 'could' being the key word.

"Well, since your up," she said "I think we should go to the hospital."

"Mmhmm." James said trying to get deeper into her hair, obviously not comprehending what she had said.

"James, it is time." She said putting him at arms length.

"What?!" his eyes practically bugging out "How did this happen?"

"Well I think you know the answer to that question." Some of her calmness she was trying so hard to retain leaving.

"That's not what I meant. Why is he coming so early?"

"I don't know." Lily said, accepting the hug James enveloped her in. They stood there for a few minutes, until Lily had another contraction.

"You sure its not just Braxton sticking his ugly head out again?" James asked with a bit of hope.

"Im sure now," she said with a smile, while walking towards the stairs.

"What do you mean 'now'?"

"My water just broke."

***

"Welcome to St. Mungos', how can I help you?" the welcome witch said sleepily.

"My wife is in labor." James said with very little patience. Couldn't this all be taken care of later?

"And your name?" she asked, with her voice dragging on seeming to make time go slower.

"Potter." Lily said shortly. It didn't affect the welcome witch too much though; she must be used to it.

"And you're Healer?"

"Healer Thompson" James answered before Lily could get even more agitated with the welcome witch.

"Follow me, and I'll get you set up in a room to fill out paper work." She either didn't hear or didn't care what Lily had mumbled under her breath. James didn't think she should be talking with that kind of language in a maternity ward.

***

After all the paper work had been filled out, the Healer finally came in and checked Lily over. "Well, the baby is definitely coming" Healer Thompson said while throwing away his gloves. "Why he is coming so early, I haven't the slightest idea. However; there are some things you will need to know about pre-mature babies. Now, as of now you are right in between 3-4 centimeters, so depending on how fast you progress we have around five hours and counting."

When Healer Thompson left, he gave them a couple of pamphlets all about the care of a pre-term baby. James then decided to stare Lily down like a puppy left out in the rain. She knew what he wanted; they talked about it since they found out about the pregnancy. Of course Lily just wanted to make him suffer a bit. So far she had been ignoring him rather well, but she was cracking.

She knew he was close to panicking, so was she. And having his friends here would help not only him, but the both of them. Let's face it, she could use Sirius' sense of humor to at least try and lighten the mood. "Oh, go get them already" she said exasperated. Excited, James shot to the hospitals floo.

The next time James came back both Remus and Sirius were in tow.

"So where is the stagchild?" Sirius asked as he walked in.

Ok, so maybe she could do with out his humor after all. "The what?" Lily all but growled out.

"You know, the baby…in you…made by James-"

"He didn't do it alone!"

"Neither did you Lilypad." Sirius said smiling while plopping down in a chair.

"Lilypad?"

"Your eyes are green and so are lilypads, and your name_ is_ Lily so…"

"Makes sense." James said, taking the stance of someone admiring art. This time Lily actually did growl. Both Sirius and James backed up simultaneously.

Remus stepped forward, hugged Lily and asked how she was doing. "Im alright, the contractions aren't too bad."

Remus nodded, "what about his timing?"

"If it were August 31, it would be different, but he's almost five weeks early. I just hope he's ok, when he is finally out."

"And he will probably be an only child." Sirius said nonchalantly. Everyone turned towards him.

"Why?" James asked. He and Lily had never officially discussed having more children, but he never did want just one child.

"Well if this little guy," he said gesturing towards Lily's belly, "keeps up this timing, he'll be walking in on you two when you are having-"

The baby wasn't the only one with bad timing-or good- depending on how you look at it. The healer came in to check how far she was progressing and kicked everyone out, except James.

Three hours later Lily was pushing. Wishing she had taken the drugs they had offered. Of course, from what she had heard of the whole birthing process and having to push a baby out for six hours she had it easy, but having a pre-term baby will do that to you. The baby's' head was already in sight only after three pushes.

"Just one more big push and you'll be all done, Lily" Before she knew it, it was over, and the room was filled with sounds of - nothing -. No new baby cries, no healers talking. It was like everyone had taken a collective silence.

Lily looked up to James; he was wide-eyed and was breathing rather harshly. She couldn't remember ever seeing him look so scared. She was sure her face was a mirror of his. The healers rushed out of the room leaving the Potters clueless. Lily tried to be calm, she tried to be ok with Harry coming early, she - hang on

"Harry," James looked at her with confusion now settling over his scared features. "Harry James Potter." James hugged her and she finally let herself cry about all that had happened over the past few hours.

***

Lily ended up falling asleep against James' chest a little over an hour later. He was able to lay her in a comfortable position so he could allow himself to go tell his friends what was happening, or at least what he knew had happened. Stepping into the waiting are he was bombarded by questions from both his friends.

"Prongs, what happened?" We saw the healers rush out with the baby."

"Harry." James corrected.

"Hairy what?" Sirius asked.

"Harry James." James said with a smile of a proud father.

"James you not ha-"

"Sirius, I think he meant that the baby's' name is Harry James." Remus interrupted.

"Oh I know," they both looked at him "I was just trying to lighten the mood." Sirius said with a shrug.

"Anyway, "James said "it was a really fast labor, four pushes and he was out. He was blue and he wasn't crying. After that they rushed him out without saying word. Lily didn't even get to see him, and Im glad she didn't. I think she would be even more scared if she did."

Remus and Sirius stood there, not knowing what to say, but knowing that nothing needed to be said, that just being there was good enough. "Mr. Potter?" they all looked up to see Healer Thompson standing there. "If you would follow me, I would like to speak to you and your wife, privately."

James looked up, nodded and followed Healer Thompson back into the room. "Lily wake up, the healers' back." She woke up as soon as she heard the word 'healer'

Healer Thompson smiled at them but it seemed forced "Im sorry," Lily was crying even before he said those two words, but they both still had hope left for him, and Potters were strong. "We should have explained why we left so urgently and without explaining anything. The baby is stable, he is in a tough position but I have seen worse where everything was fine in the end, and I think he'll pull through." James grabbed Lily and pulled her into a hug, "He has regained some color to his skin and he is more awake now. That is why we rushed off, and he wasn't making any noise. He wasn't sleeping per se, but he was lethargic." Looking at Lily he added, "You both will need to stay in the hospital for a time to recuperate, you should be out by the end of august if his weight has doubled by then."

Lily didn't care if she had to stay until Christmas, her baby was alive and that was all that she cared about right then. "Would you like to see your boy?" he asked with a smile as the new parents nodded with extra enthusiasm. "I'll be back with him in a minute, relax." He added as a precaution.

Sirius and Remus came in right after the healer left, having been listening at the door. But for very good reason. Once they all shared an excited glance, they waited in baited breath for Harry. It wasn't too much longer when the healer returned pushing a cot with the tiny baby inside, stretching out his tiny legs in all his extra space.

"How much does he weigh?" Lily asked, not believing his size until she had concrete numbers.

"Three pounds and seven ounces." Healer Thompson said "Have you decided on a name?"

James and Lily shared a smile that only new parents could have, "Yeah" he said "Harry James Potter" as Lily reached out to touch the Harrys' hand, and smiled as he grabbed her index finger.

-One Month and Some Days Later-

"Hello Harry, did you have a yummy lunch?" Lily asked while Harry let out a rather large burp. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Is he finally eating ok now?" James asked. It had been harder than they had originally thought getting Harry to double his birth weight. After reading the pamphlets, James and Lily had only noticed two of the diagnoses that a pre-mature baby could have. Apnea and feeding problems. Some babies, Harry included, would develop apnea, where the baby forgets to breath. In other words it's like the baby holds its breath without meaning too. Harry also had many feeding and eating problems. First he would want to eat every two hours if not more, but would only eat for a few minutes before falling asleep again. When he would finally eat it wasn't much, he just liked to stay there and be held.

"Better than before, he could still eat more but the healers say he is eating fine for his size." She said as she laid him down into his cot and went to change into her going home clothes. While changing Sirius and Remus came in.

"Padfoot, Moony," James said nodding to each while packing up their belongings. "Where had Wormtail been?"

"His mother has been sick, apparently some muggle disease called nancer-"

"Cancer." Remus corrected.

"Yeah that." Sirius said distractedly while pulling something from behind his back.

"What do you have Padfoot?" James asked. Remus shook his head in exasperation.

"What makes you think I have something Prongs?" he said all too innocently.

James looked down at his son and gave Sirius the trademark look of 'Lily-is-Going-to-Kill-You' and walked away quickly to get out of a future crime scene.

When Lily did exit the bathroom, she noticed no one was looking at Sirius or would meet her eyes. She also noticed that Sirius was in too close of proximity her newborn baby by himself for her liking. Sirius turned around as she started to walk over,

"Look Lily!" he said gesturing to Harry, "I knew he would have antlers!"

Lily sighed, closed her eyes and tuned around "Sirius take those off his head."

END


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